tell your story

Advancing Student Achievement Through Technology
On
COMPUTER-USING EDUCATORS, INC.
tell
your story
Grant Writing to Advance Student Achievement
INSIDE:
• Shift of Control • Demystifying the Grant
• Sweating the Small Stuff • Grant Vocabulary
Spring 2006 | Vol. 28 | No. 1
capture
their attention
like never before.
We know that keeping your students’ attention is
no small task. But with jaw dropping, life-like
images provided by the Learn Big line of InFocus
projectors, your students will definitely stand up
and take notice. Learn how InFocus can magnify
your lesson plan like never before.
Visit www.infocus.com or call 866-345-2735.
©2006 InFocus Corporation. All rights reserved.
Spring 2006 OnCUE
www.cue.org
mission
Black Diamond Middle School
Tech Crew member shoots footage for
training video (see page 10).
SPRING 2006
Contents
Up Front {4}
Bits & Bytes {10}
CUE Sponsers Legislation • Quiet on the Set! • Affiliate Grant Programs • OnCTAP
Features
Shift of Control ............................................................ 12
ALAN NOVEMBER
Demystifying the Grant ................................................ 14
C
CUE promotes and supports the
effective use of technology in the
educational community.
Editor
Layout
Sara Armstrong, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Maria McDonough
JUDY ECHEANDIA
Contributing Writers
Sweating the Small Stuff ................................................16
Barbara Bray, Brian Bridges, Sandra Burdick, Tim Landeck,
Doug Prouty, Linda Oaks, David Thornburg, Chris York
T I M E R E N E TA
Grant Vocabulary ..........................................................17
LISA WAHL
Departments
Professional Development ............................................ 18
B A R B A R A B R AY
Tips & Tricks ................................................................ 19
LINDA OAKS
Tech Coordination .......................................................... 20
T I M L A N D E C K , D O U G P R O U T Y, M A C C A R E Y
Advertising
Paid advertising accepted in accordance with editorial
policy. For ad deadlines or additional information, please
contact CUE Inc., c/o WestEd, 300 Lakeside Drive, 25th
Floor, Oakland, CA 94612, 510/814.6630.
OnCUE journal (ISSN 0739-9553) is published and
bulk-mailed four times during the academic year by
Computer-Using Educators, Inc., and is one of the benefits
of membership. Membership for CUE is $40/year, U.S. regular rate, and $30/year, U.S. student rate. Corporate memberships are available.
Entire contents Copyright 2006 by CUE, Inc., unless
otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. To reprint articles
that are copyrighted by the author, you must contact the
author for permission. All other items may be reprinted
for educational use, but not for sale, with the provision
that proper credit is given to OnCUE and to the author,
if any.
Columns
2005/2006 CUE, Inc. Board of Directors
President’s Column .......................................................... 5
SCOTT SMITH
Scott Smith, President
[email protected]
Barbara Keenoy, Member
[email protected]
The Bleeding Edge............................................................ 8
Chuck Holland, V.P./Treasurer
[email protected]
Michael Morrison, Member
[email protected]
Debra White, Secretary
[email protected]
Doug Prouty, Member
[email protected]
Hall Davidson, Member at Large
[email protected]
Sharon Sutton, Member
[email protected]
DAV I D D . T H O R N B U R G , P H . D .
CUE Information & Forms
2007 Call for Participation and Proposal Form................6
CUE Membership Application ...................................... 22
Calendar ..........................................................Back Cover
Jan Half, Member at Large
[email protected]
Mike Lawrence, Executive Director
[email protected]
Computer-Using Educators, Inc.
c/o WestEd
300 Lakeside Drive, 25th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone 510/814-6630 | Fax 510/444-4569
4
UP
FRONT
by Mike Lawrence
Executive Director
[email protected]
T
his issue of OnCUE focuses on getting funds
to advance student achievement. Inevitably, this
involves grant writing, research, and what I think
of as a specialized form of storytelling. To be compelling, and by extension, successful, a grant
needs to tell the story of the potential that could
be realized by its implementation. I encourage all
CUE members to think about what makes you
passionate about the impact of technology on
teaching and learning and tell those stories in
your grant proposals.
Grant Writing as Storytelling:
Share Your Passion
Now is the time to think creatively and seek out
non-traditional sources for technology funding. In
fact, let’s stop thinking of it as “technology funding” altogether. It’s educational funding! Since
technology acts as a catalyst for learning across all
curricular areas, I suggest that CUE members seek
out curriculum-specific grant funding and incorporate powerful technology tools into their grant
proposals. I hope the tools and strategies included
in these pages will give you the edge you need in
your efforts this year and beyond.
CUE Board Elections
Voting begins this spring for candidates for
the CUE Board of Directors. For the first time,
elections will be held online. Visit <www.cue.org>
for instructions on how to make your voice heard
and view information about each candidate. I am
greatly pleased with the slate of potential board
members this year. Your choices represent a good
spread of experiences, responsibilities, and regional representation. You may vote for up to three of
the six candidates and the deadline is April 25th!
Purchasing Consortium
CUE and CalSAVE have launched a second
promotion for schools and districts to save money
when they purchase site and district licenses from
Spring 2006 OnCUE
Atomic Learning and netTrekker d.i. This
Consortium seeks to offer a lower per-pupil
pricing than any found in California. Be sure to
sign up for this promotion at the CUE Conference
before the Consortium pricing goes away! More
info: <www.cue.org/consortium/>.
Northern Events
With its shift to a single annual conference
in Palm Springs, CUE has been working to
produce top quality professional development
opportunities in Northern California in 20052006. Below are some highlights of the last year:
Partnering with the California League of
Middle Schools/California League of High
Schools, CUE presented 20 sessions at their
Monterey Technology Conference in November.
It was a great collaboration and we look forward
to working together this year to improve on that
success. More info: <www.cue.org/monterey
technology/>
Teaming up with IDG, CUE successfully
produced a K-12 Education Symposium at
Macworld for any and all educators. The event
was so well attended that Macworld management had to move our sessions to a larger room!
David Warlick keynoted, with Hall Davidson,
Carol Anne McGuire, and Rae Niles presenting
on blogging, podcasting, media, assistive technology and 1:1 learning environments. Over
200 attended this exciting one-day educational
strand at Macworld in San Francisco. More info:
<www.cue.org/macworld/>
Wine Country CUE hosted two events at
the Napa County Office of Education, featuring
CUE Board Member and director of the
Discovery Educator Network, Hall Davidson.
More info: <www.winecountrycue.org> and
<www.discovery educatornetwork.com>.
CUE thanks all the partners mentioned above
and looks forward to future successful collaborations to bring quality professional development
and networking to CUE members across the
state.✪
www.cue.org
PRESIDENT’S
COLUMN
5
by Scott Smith
CUE Board President
[email protected]
Great Expectations
Encourage Students
V
VINAY BUTTAN ARRIVED FROM PAKISTAN THIS PAST SUMMER AND ENROLLED IN THE
Technology, when used
effectively, holds a key to
raising our expectations
LOCAL MIDDEL SCHOOL WHERE HE WAS PLACED IN AN ELL STRAND TO SUPPORT
HIS LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT. HIS SOCIAL STUDIES COURSE WAS A “REGULAR”
of students.
CLASS OF 35 STUDENTS INCLUDING FOUR OTHER ELL STUDENTS. FOR THE FIRST
first few months, his teacher directed the
PowerPoint lectures at the regular students
while underselling the ability of the mainstreamed students to learn the material. The
teacher commented, “The curriculum is too
hard for my ELL students to understand.
They’d rather work on math homework.”
Then, inspired by an in-service on technology integration, the teacher ventured to put
laptops into the students’ hands and challenged them to solve an interesting problem.
He addressed the class as the Royal Announcer
of a medieval kingdom.
“Your royal highness seeks a new invention
to improve his kingdom. As his loyal scientists,
you will pick a key invention of the medieval
time period, thoroughly understand its impact
on society, and pitch a multimedia presentation
to persuade the king to loosen his treasury and
finance your invention.”
When the cart of 16 laptops was rolled out,
the students were eager to grab one and get
started. To the teacher’s surprise, one was
placed on Vinay’s desk. A neighboring student
reached over to take it away from Vinay assuming that the ELL students wouldn’t participate
in the project. Vinay quickly picked up the laptop and hugged it close to his chest; in his best
broken English Vinay proclaimed, “I do project! I do project!”
When Vinay was shown how to translate
www.cue.org
websites into his native language he took off.
For the rest of the week, Vinay and his ELL
peers poured themselves into the project and
exceeded their teacher’s expectations. The
teacher adjusted his view of ELL students and
the role technology can play to support their
learning.
Clear research from Kati Haycock on “closing the achievement gap” (<edtrust.org>)
stresses the value of placing great expectations
on our students. Technology, when used effectively, holds a key to raising our expectations of
students and it levels the playing field for
struggling students to meet those expectations.
This month, we enter our 2006 CUE
Conference with great expectations. CUE’s
mission — advancing student achievement
through technology — has never been more
important to the challenges facing educators
today. Our conference program is rich with
practical examples of how this mission translates to your classroom or school. If you’re not
able to attend the conference this year, I
encourage you to attend a local CUE-sponsored event and realize what great expectations
technology brings. ✪
Scott Smith serves as the director of instructional
technology for the Visalia Unified School District.
Spring 2006 OnCUE
Call For Participation
2007 CUE Conference
Sharing the Summit | March 1-3, 2007 | Palm Springs, CA
WELCOME
CUE is looking for members and
friends to share their learning, teaching and
technology experiences with their fellow
members. Presenters who can address the
uses and integration of technology in all
disciplines and at all educational levels are
encouraged to apply for a presentation. We
are looking for sessions to meet the needs
of beginning, intermediate and advanced
technology users. CUE’s annual conferences are among the oldest and largest education-technology events in the United
States. Teachers, administrators, students,
parents and other professionals can attend
concurrent sessions, vendor displays, professional development seminars, hands-on
workshops and many other activities
offered at each conference.
Professional Development Seminars
Professional development seminars
are engaging lecture-style presentations.
These Thursday seminars are designed to
address a specific set of objectives and are
presented by experts who are experienced
in the use of technology in education.
Seminars may target a certain audience
(i.e., administrators) or may be a topic of
general interest to all members.
CUE Member Preference
CUE Conferences are member to
member events. Members will be given
preference as speakers.
Hands-On Workshops
Hands-on workshops are three-hour
presentations for 30 participants in either a
Mac lab or PC lab. Each registrant will
have a computer. Topics on specific software applications should also be curriculum-related. Please specify all equipment
and software applications required for the
workshop.
Equipment Requirements
CUE attempts to provide all the
equipment required for its presentations,
but we may not be able to honor all
requests. Please use the equipment suggestions listed on the proposal submission form as a guideline.
GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING
SESSION SELECTION CRITERIA
Concurrent Sessions
Concurrent sessions are one-hour lecture style presentations that address all
areas of the curriculum and appeal to a
variety of teachers. Sessions may be given
by a single speaker, team or panel who can
address the needs of the novice user of
educational technology as well as the more
experienced professional.
Commercial sessions are those either
submitted by a commercial vendor or a
CUE Member to highlight a specific application or technological tool to the exclusion of similar tools. Commercial sessions
are limited and are only available to those
vendors who have purchased exhibit space
prior to the proposal deadline.
Non-commercial sessions are those
submitted by an educator or CUE Member
to highlight how a specific academic content has been enhanced through the use of
technology.
Completed Application
Commercial and non-commercial
session proposals will not be reviewed
without a one-page abstract (for selection
process), a brief description (for conference
program) and a completed application.
Abstract Rating for Commercial and
non-Commercial Sessions
All abstracts will be rated on the following
categories:
• Content. Is the abstract convincing that
this is a solid presentation? Does the
presentation stand out? Is the topic
thoroughly covered in the given time?
• Appropriateness. Is the topic current,
appropriate to CUE and of interest to
our members?
• Educational Soundness. Is the presentation educationally sound? Is it more
than just a product advertisement?
• Expertise. Does the abstract convince
the reader that the speaker knows the
topic?
Topic
CUE’s presentations address all areas
of the curriculum. To meet our attendees’
needs, we attempt to cover all conference
topics.
COMPENSATION
A concurrent session presenter
receives complimentary registration.
You are welcome to invite a co-presenter
to assist you in your session. Your copresenter must, however, register for the
conference as a regular attendee. Professional development seminar and hands-on
workshop presenters receive complimentary registration, and a stipend. Please
contact the CUE office for more details.
DEADLINES
Workshops/Seminars: June 16, 2006
Concurrent Sessions: Sept 1, 2006
NOTIFICATION
Applicants will be notified in writing
on November 1, 2006. Please contact
CUE for further information.
SUBMISSION PROCESS
Submit proposals online at
www.cue.org/ conference/present/. We
will begin accepting 2007 CUE proposals
online April 1, 2006.
Contact CUE at (510) 814-6630.
To access this document and to get other CUE Conference information, visit our Website at www.cue.org.
Proposal Submission Form
Submit your application online at www.cue.org.
PRESENTER INFORMATION
Please provide an address at which CUE may contact you. CUE has discovered that
your home address is usually best. Only lead presenters will receive a confirmation.
The following information will be printed in the Conference Program unless
CUE is notified otherwise.
Presenter’s Membership Status
CUE members receive selection
preference.
❐ I’m a current member!
❐ I wish to renew my membership,
$40 check enclosed.
Presenter’s Name
❐
Job Title
❐
I’m a new member, $40 check
enclosed.
I’m not a member.
School or Organization
Mailing Address (please check:
City
(
Work Phone
❐ Home ❐ Work)
)
Email Address
EMAIL THE FOLLOWING IN
PDF OR WORD FORMAT
State
(
)
Home Phone
(
)
Fax
Zip
1. Title of presentation
(12 words or less).
2. Brief description for program
(30 words or less).
3. One-page abstract
(including an outline of presentation
content).
URL for Handouts
Co-Presenter Names
Is the co-presenter a student under 16 years of age?
❐ Yes ❐ No
Category of Submission
Topic
Session Equipment Request
(check one per application)
(check only one from the 10 options below)
❐ Concurrent session (Friday or Saturday, one
California Content Standards & Frameworks
Computer Type : _______________________
(select one from below)
B
Bringing my own system
I
IBM compatible
M Macintosh
N
No computer needed
hour, lecture-style)
❐ Commercial
❐ Non-commercial
❐ Professional Development seminar
(Thursday, three-hour, lecture-style,
non-commercial only)
❐ Hands-on Workshop (Thursday, Friday or
Saturday, three-hour, 30 participants)
Intended Audience
❐ New to CUE
❐ Intermediate Technology Users
❐ Experienced Technology Users
Audience Grade Level
❐ Preschool/K-1
❐ High School (9-12)
❐ Primary (2-3)
❐ College
❐ Elementary (4-6) ❐ Administration
❐ Intermediate (6-8)
❐ Not grade-level specific
❐ Reading/Language Arts ❐ Mathematics
❐ History/Social Science ❐ Science
❐ Visual/Performing Arts ❐ Foreign Language
❐ Health/Physical Education
Category
❐ Leadership and Administration — Use of technology as a strategic tool for school improvement and
reform, including state technology grants or projects.
❐ Teaching and Learning — Best practices, including project-based learning, that place a strong emphasis
on teacher professional development, academic standards, and opportunities for learners to gain both academic and technology-oriented skills.
❐ Innovation — Promote effective use of learning
tools, appliances and services that make effective
learning and access to technologies benefits available to
all learners.
❐ IT Professionals — Management of information
technology infrastructure, security and tools to support
learning including network administration, instructional
information processing and communication systems.
Other Equipment : ______________________
(select one from below)
C
Internet connection
W Wireless Internet connection
N
No other equipment needed
O
Overhead projector/screen
P
Projection device/screen
V
VCR
H
High speed video
L
Bring your own laptop
Mail this application to:
Computer-Using Educators, Inc.
c/o WestEd
300 Lakeside Dr., 25th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Ph: 510-814-6630 Fax: 510-444-4569
Or submit online: www.cue.org
8
THE
BLEEDING
EDGE
The desktop metaphor that looked so cool in the world of 10 megabyte hard drives becomes
completely dysfunctional when local storage exceeds ten thousand times that amount.
by David D. Thornburg, Ph.D.
Death of the Desktop:
Early Metaphor has
Passed Its Usefulness
M
MANY CUE MEMBERS ARE OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER THE INTRODUCTION OF THE
MACINTOSH IN 1984 WITH ITS SPIFFY GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE BASED ON THE
DESKTOP METAPHOR THAT XEROX PARC HAD PEREMPTORILY STOLEN FROM APPLE
IN THE 1970’S (DON’T YOU JUST HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE STEAL YOUR IDEAS
prior to you having them in the first place?) If you recall, the
dominant user interface for personal computers at the time was
an empty command line in which you typed the name of the program you wanted to run. DOS users and Apple users initiated a
holy war with skirmishes fought at CUE conferences for years
until Microsoft decided to join the theft of intellectual property
by releasing Windows. Before long, everyone was using computers with a graphical user interface based on the desktop
metaphor without any serious discussion as to whether or not
this interface was the right one to be using.
Keep in mind, history buffs, that since neither Apple nor
Microsoft developed the interface themselves, they were not privy
to the underlying thinking behind the design. Was it better than
what existed before? Probably yes. Was it as good as it should be?
Probably not. That said, the desktop GUI has had a good long run,
proving that simians can sometimes type Shakespeare if they hit
enough keys; but this much-heralded user interface has finally run
out of steam — for a very interesting reason.
Those of us who worked at PARC in the 1970's had to deal
with the technology of the day (although we pushed the limits
whenever possible). Disk drive capacity was only a few
megabytes. With this small amount of storage, it was feasible to
think that business customers (Xerox's primary target) would be
able to organize largely text-based documents in folders placed
neatly on a desktop, and even stacked within other folders.
Furthermore, with a smallish number of documents it was even
reasonable to assume that, once filed, these documents could be
found again. After all, the physical office of the day was organized that way, and it seemed to work. Having a strong parallel
between the physical and virtual world was an intentional ele-
Spring 2006 OnCUE
ment of design, even to the point of having
documents appear on screen as they would
when printed (what you see is what you get, or
WYSIWYG). Since an office had (typically) a
three-drawer filing cabinet, a shelf with books,
some desk drawers and an in/out box, the
amount of physical data used by individuals on
a daily basis was small enough to make this
world work.
Fast forward to today. New personal computers ship with roughly 100 gigabyte drives,
which we manage to fill with great speed with all
manner of documents. Text, images, MP3 files,
you name it — if you have ever seen it online
anywhere, you probably downloaded it “just in
case.” The problem, of course, is that the desktop
metaphor that looked so cool in the world of 10megabyte hard drives becomes completely dysfunctional when local storage exceeds ten thousand times that amount. Do you really want to
search through ten thousand three-drawer filing
cabinets by hand? Me neither.
In fact, here's a quiz: Have you ever gone
online to download a document you already
downloaded once but can't find because you
have no idea where you put it? When I ask
how many people have done this in my presentations, a lot of hands go up. I do it myself all
the time.
Now, just to make life more interesting,
some of you (that means all of you in three
years) will have about a terabyte of storage connected to your computer. If all this data were
in the form of print, it would take the paper
from 50,000 trees to store this amount of text.
Want to browse this by hand? Me neither.
It seems to me that the solution to this
challenge is the creation of a new user interface
that addresses several issues. First, every document needs to be indexed by its content, not
just by its name. This is easy to do with text,
but suppose you are looking for a picture you
took last year of a green parrot facing left, sit-
www.cue.org
THE
ting on a tree branch? This query should be handled by an
index as well, and the indexing has to be largely automatic
(although Flickr <www.flickr.com> has an interesting
approach to this problem, even though indexing is manual).
The index needs to be maintained. Deleted documents
need to have their index deleted; new documents need to be
indexed on the fly (or at least within a hour or so of creation).
Third, the user interface needs to be intuitive and
panoptic. The intuitive part is easiest — if something looks
like a button, click on it. The panoptic part is a bit trickier.
Basically it means that when you do a search, the entire
result of the search shows up in a single screen. If you have
lots of hits, you can filter your search, and you should be
able to drill down to any level of detail you wish, and launch
documents right from the interface. While the Google
Desktop <desktop.google.com> does a fine job of indexing
and finding text documents, it fails to provide a panoptic
view. Grokker <www.grokker.com> on the other hand, does
both. By the way, it should come as no surprise that web
search tools provide interesting models for our use —
Yahoo!, for example, adds five terabytes of data a week.
www.cue.org
BLEEDING
EDGE
9
Of course, these are only cursory thoughts, but I think
they are important for those of us who care about educational computing. One of our goals as CUE members should
be to make sure that technology stays out of the student's
way. A student doing research, writing a paper, creating a
Skype videoconference, or building a web site should not be
encumbered with digging through mountains of meandering data for the relevant material needed at the time. This is
one thing computers were supposed to do for us.
So, enjoy your desktop metaphor for a while. Take lots
of screen shots to show the grandkids, and someday you'll
pull out those images and tell stories about the old days
when you had to navigate for documents by hand! ✪
David D. Thornburg, Ph.D. <[email protected]>, Director,
Global Operations, Thornburg Center for Professional
Development loves to hear from readers and will gladly come to
your school or district to give presentations or workshops on a
variety of topics.
Spring 2006 OnCUE
10
NEWS
&
UPDATES
Legislation & Advocacy
CUE SPONSORS LEGISLATION
CUE’s 2005-2006 Legislative
Advocacy Platform has been adopted
by the CUE Board of Directors and is
now available online <www.cue.org/
advocacy/>. Three areas of focus are:
• Restoring EETT Funding
• Funding the K-12 High Speed
Network
• Working with legislators to promote
adoption of digital content
Towards these ends, CUE has once
again sponsored legislation being heard
by the California legislature. SB 812
(Soto) is focused on consolidating
existing data elements and tools to provide current data regarding the use of
instructional technology in schools.
The governor had previously vetoed
this bill last year. The K-12 High Speed
Network is included in this version of
the bill, but it is otherwise identical to
its predecessor, SB 1006. ✪
Chris York <[email protected]>,
CUE Legislative Advocacy Committee
Chair, is director of technology and student assessment in the Del Norte County
Office of Education.
Affiliates Promote Technology
Integration through Grant
Programs
A number of affiliates offer or have
offered grants to their members for
integrating technology into teaching
and learning for the benefit of student
achievement. Often, winners are asked
to share their projects with colleagues
at an affiliate meeting, or write about
what they did in the affiliate newsletter.
Included are a few examples.
East Bay CUE (EBCUE) offers
two kinds of grants to its members —
Bits&Bytes
Quiet on the Set!! Grants, Film
Editing, and Student
Productions
By Gary Hensley, EBCUE Grant
Recipient
In 1999 a new class began at
Black Diamond Middle School in
Antioch. “Tech Crew” met for one
class period every day with about 20
students.
My biggest priority was to create
training videos for the maintenance of
our computers. In this way I would be
able to provide clear, uniform instructions one time for everyone in the
Tech Crew class — four tracks of year
round students.
In 2001 I won a special grant
funded by PacBell that paid for a Sony
Digital Mini-Cam. Also, the addition
Spring 2006 OnCUE
of seven iMacs to the lab allowed some
of the Tech Crew to do limited filming, editing, and production of “short
subjects” using iMovie. In 2002, I was
awarded an East Bay CUE grant that
provided money to buy an additional
digital mini-cam, tripods, and wireless
microphones to expand the video production in the Tech Crew.
I wanted the Tech Crew students
to be able to film, edit, and produce
their own movie projects. They also
assisted me in producing a collection
of training videos on everything from
Mac Basics to Advanced HyperStudio
Techniques. Later, we were asked to
film classrooms in action. Having
more digital mini-cams allowed us to
capture the myriad of oral presentations that occurred every day on our
campus. The Tech Crew class also
filmed drama productions, yearbook
highlights, history enactments, science experiments, math how-to lessons, English speeches, oral reports,
open house sessions, team projects,
and teacher how-to tutorials.
Because of the grants and the
video training films we developed, we
were able to ensure the Tech Crew’s
promptness and accuracy in maintaining the computers at our school, and
provide our students with opportunities for learning video production. ✪
Gary Hensley <[email protected].
ca.us> is currently a Technology Grant
Specialist at the Contra Costa County
Office of Education. He manages the
Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation
county-wide grant that awards $8,000
to 20 schools each year.
www.cue.org
NEWS
teacher grants and professional development grants. The latter is supported by
CTAP Region 4 in partnership with
EBCUE. For information about the current grant offerings — due March 3 —
visit EBCUE’s website <www.ebcue. org>.
San Diego CUE (SDCUE) awarded
grants from 1996-2004 (see <sdcue.
org>, click on SDCUE Grant Program for
descriptions of awards). Currently, this
affiliate is supporting the iVIE Awards
(Innovative Video in Education)through
their county office of education. In this
way, SDCUE believes they have more
impact on teachers and students. Due
OnCTAP
MONEY IS ABOUT TO FALL
FROM THE SKY
By Paul Haas and Brian Bridges
In a time of continuing state debt
and increasing cuts to federal technology
funds, money is about to fall from the sky.
The long-awaited Microsoft Settlement,
having cleared its final appeals, will soon
be dispersed through the Education
Technology K12 Voucher Program. The
voucher program is estimated to hold
about $600 million and will be awarded to
schools that have at least 40% Free and
Reduced Lunch (FRL) counts as based on
their 2005 CBEDs. Funding amounts are
estimated at between $150 to $300 per
&
UPDATES
11
once, or you could parcel out the funds
over five years as you implement the activities from your district technology plan.
You could be the grasshopper or you could
be the ants.
Hardware
Fifty percent of the K12 Voucher
grant may be spent on hardware, software,
technical support, or professional development. Some schools, especially those
with aging equipment, may be tempted to
consume all their funds at once to equip
their schools. However, with hardware
prices continuing to decline, schools
could actually save money by spreading
their purchases over the life of their district technology plan.
F I F T Y P E R C E N T O F T H E K 1 2 V O U C H E R G R A N T M AY B E S P E N T O N H A R DWA R E ,
S O F T WA R E , T E C H N I C A L S U P P O RT, O R P R O F E S S I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T.
April 3, you can get more information at
<www.ivieawards.org>.
Over the years, Inland Area CUE’s
(IACUE) grant program funded 27 projects. In its last year, the program funded
Patricia Rowe, from Bear Valley High
School, who used her grant money for
her “Bears D.E.N.” project that helps the
school air live student broadcasts.
Central California CUE (CCCUE)
recently announced their 2005
MiniGrant winners. Affiliate members
can apply for a digital camera grant or an
iPod grant, and must attend a professional development session before
receiving their equipment, and agree to
share in a presentation at a conference.
Current digital camera winners are
Jennifer Harman, W. Brad Eagleton, and
Bob King. iPod winners are Terry
Campbell and Rachel Sooter. See <www.
cccue.com> for more details. ✪
www.cue.org
ADA. High schools that have a qualifying
feeder school will also be eligible for this
grant. You can check your school FRL percentage at the Dataquest website <data1.
cde.ca.gov/dataquest>. When the grant is
announced, local CTAP regions will contact districts and hold trainings about the
program and its opportunities. Districts
will apply for the grant on behalf of their
schools.
The Grasshopper and the Ants
However, money falling from the sky
can make some people delirious and cause
them to make irrational decisions. At this
time, it would be wise to remember the
fable of the grasshopper and the ants. In
short, the story is about a grasshopper that
partied all summer while the ants were
busy preparing for winter. When winter
came, the grasshopper starved while the
ants had plenty of food stored away.
The Education Technology K12
Voucher Program presents a similar set of
choices. You could spend the entire
amount in one luxurious spending spree,
purchasing a torrent of new technology
and electronic learning resources all at
Software
Fifty percent of the funds may only
be spent on “off the shelf” software. Many
districts may think that this restriction
would make it nearly impossible to
expend their funds over the next four to
five years. However, districts should consider this an opportunity to upgrade their
student information systems and add the
home/school components so many districts have included in their plans.
The Education Technology K12
Voucher Program is coming to a school
near you. It provides a single opportunity
to implement the activities and professional development outlined in your district
technology plan. As you consider all the
possible ways to spend these funds, we
have one bit of advice. Be the ants. ✪
For complete information, contact your local
regional office through the CTAP website
<www.ctap.k12.ca.us>. Paul Haas is chairperson of the State Coordinating Council and
director of CTAP Region 2. Brian Bridges is
program manager for CTAP Region 6.
Spring 2006 OnCUE
12
FEATURE
New Tool Adds Important Dimensions to Learning for Students and Teachers.
See <www.cue.org> for the complete story.
SHIFT OF CONTROL
by Alan November
B
logging represents one of many tools that pioneering teachers are using to empower students
to take more responsibility for managing their
own work and add value to the world.
Educators are typically not neutral about blogging — there are fierce defenders and fierce critics. As Will
Richardson <www.weblogg-ed.com> points out, “One of the
reasons we fear these technologies is because we as teachers
don't yet understand them or use them. But the reality is
that our students already do. It's imperative that we be able
to teach our kids how to use the tools effectively and appropriately because right now they have no models to follow.”
Chris Burnett: “Never. I will never use a blog in my
teaching.”
Chris, a veteran writing/literature teacher in inner city
Michigan for twelve to fourteen year olds was clear about
her feelings as she walked out of my “How to Blog” workshop in the summer of 2004. At the time, she was not
alone.
Here are concerns I’ve heard from other teachers:
• Blogs give too much freedom for students to express
themselves
• Teachers will never be able to control comments
• Students and parents will have too much access to other
students’ published work
• Students will feel too much pressure to improve as they
see the work and comments of others
One year later, Chris has replaced her misgivings with
determination to publish a blog that features student work for
authentic review <www.visitmyclass.com/blogs/burnett05/>.
And she now gives her own workshops for other teachers who
are willing to learn more about the power of this medium.
She says, “We had the author of one of our books (Chris
Crowe who wrote the very powerful Mississippi Trial 1955)
Spring 2006 OnCUE
reply to our blog: ‘I'm especially pleased by your students'
reaction to my characters. I tried to make the fictional people as complicated and interesting as people are in real life.
The students’ insights into the issues and characters are
right on, and it's clear they're doing careful reading and
thinking.’”
W H AT I S A B L O G ?
According to Wikipedia <www.wikipedia.com>, a blog is “a
website in which items are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order. The term ‘blog’ is a
shortened form of weblog or web log.”
Some free educational blog resources:
Alan’s Blog Workshop - What is a Blog?
<nlcommunities.com/communities/technology_blog/>
Blogs for educational professionals
<www.edublogs.org>
Classroom Blog Tool
<www.classblogmeister.com>
Ed-blogging Resource
<educational.blogs.com>
Darren Kuropatwa
Enter “pre cal” into Google and in the top spot you will
find <pc40s.blogspot.com>. This is the class blog of
Winnipeg math teacher and department head Darren
Kuropatwa. Darren is another pioneer who has engaged his
students in producing a student guide to pre-calculus and
calculus. Each day a different student is responsible for producing notes for publication of that day’s discussion.
Students are challenged to include accompanying illustrations and examples by their classmates. At the end of this
year, Darren’s classes will have produced a Student’s Guide to
Understanding Calculus. Before blogging, we would expect
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FEATURE
13
Before blogging, we would expect hardworking
students to be able to read the calculus textbook.
Darren expects his students to write the book.
hard working students to be able to read the calculus textbook. Darren expects his students to write the book.
Bumps in the Night
As with all technologies there can be serious abuses. We
must balance the amazing stories of blogging with what can
go very wrong. We have all heard the horror stories of what
can happen when students pick up a free blog
(<blogspot.com>, <livejournal.com>, <myspace.com>, and
many other free sites). Death threats to fellow classmates,
inappropriate pictures by young teen girls who are looking
for dates are horrible examples that are local to me.
There is another option. Using the medium to teach
responsibility is a direction recommended by Anne Davies
(<anne.teachesme.com>), an educational consultant from
British Columbia.
Anne writes, “Sometimes when I see all the stuff that is
posted on blogs by teenagers I find myself wishing that
someone had given them some guidance. Lots of them are
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just not thinking. We need to build these types of things into
discussions in our classrooms. I like to think that good
teaching about responsible weblog use would help.”
We need courageous leaders who are willing to explore
the strengths and weaknesses of this medium. Our students
live in a world where they have access to increasingly more
powerful communications tools. Who should teach them how
to manage the power of these tools? We have come face to
face with technologies that are now threatening the existing
culture of teaching and learning. We will either try to defend
the status quo or we will carefully analyze the risks of moving
forward to provide powerful role models for our students. ✪
Alan November’s blog is <www.novemberlearning.com/
blogs/alannovember/>. For workshops and seminars related to
blogging, join Alan at the Building Learning Communities
Summer Conference, July 17-20, 2006: <www.novemberlearning.
com/blc/>.
Spring 2006 OnCUE
14
FEATURE
DEMYSTIFYING THE GRANT
G
Grants are among the most important sources of
funding available today to teachers, schools, and
school districts as well as many education-oriented
community programs. There are an amazing variety
of financial resources available out there to fit the
special needs of educators, ranging from small
“mini-grants” offered by local community groups all
the way to the major grants funded by federal and
state government agencies and large philanthropic
foundations. Yet, despite the wide range of funding
available, many individuals and organizations often
find the grant seeking process somewhat mystifying,
confusing, and even intimidating. Frequently asked
questions include: “Where do I even start to look?”
and “How do I find a grant program to meet my special needs?” Happily, seeking and finding the grant
resource that is right for you need not be nearly so
mystifying or confusing when you have the necessary
information to point you in the right direction and
get you started. So, let’s look at some of the funding
sources you may want to consider:
Funding Information Libraries: Many community
libraries contain information on private and public
sector funding agencies. Some of these libraries
house special collections of funding directories and
grant databases (online and CD-ROM) such as The
Foundation Center’s 21 Cooperating Collection
Libraries. For a listing of the Cooperating Collection
Libraries located in the State of California, go to
<www.fdncenter.org/collections/ccca.html>.
Local Education Foundations (LEF): Many
school districts and some individual schools have
established foundations for the purpose of supporting public education and serving as a link between
Spring 2006 OnCUE
by Judy Echeandia
communities and schools. LEFs may differ in the
kind of support they provide, the programs they
offer, and the way they operate. Check your school
district’s web page or call the district superintendent’s office to find out if your school district has an
LEF or check the California Consortium of
Education Foundations’ website at <www.cce
flink.org/list.htm>.
Community Foundations: Local foundations may
offer grants in a specific community or region, and
many provide support for public education programs. To locate the foundation that serves your
area, go to <www.fdncenter.org/funders/grant
maker/gws_ comm/comm_ca.html>.
State Government: The California Department of
Education is only one of the state agencies that
offers funding for educational programs. You can
get started at <www.cde.ce.gov/fg/fo/>.
Federal Government: There are numerous Federal
grant programs you can explore:
• Grants.gov <www.grants.gov>
• Department of Education
<www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/grantapps/index.
html>
• Environmental Protection Agency
<www.epa.gov/enviroed/grants.html>
• National Endowment for the Arts
<www.nea.gov/grants/index.html>
• National Endowment for the Humanities
<www.neh.gov/grants/index.html>
• National Science Foundation
<www.nsf.gov/funding/research_edu_
communty.jsp>
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FEATURE
Professional Associations: These are often funding
sources for specialized programs, such as:
• American Association of School Administrators
<www.aasa.org/awards/index.cfm>
• American Library Association
<www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=awards>
• Association for Educational Communications and
Technology <www.aect.org/Foundation/Awards/
Awards.htm>
• National Science Teachers Association
<www.nsta.org/awardscomp/>
• The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education
<www.neafoundation.org/programs/grantguides.htm>
Email: Register to receive email notification of current
grant programs offered by the California Department of
Education at <www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/af/joinlist.asp>.
For the U.S. Department of Education, address an email
message to: [email protected]. Then write SUBSCRIBE
EDINFO YOURFIRSTNAME YOURLASTNAME in the message (if you have a signature block, turn it off). Then send
it. You can also register for email notification from
Grants.gov at <www.grants.gov/search/email.do>.
E-newsletters: Another good source of funding information
are e-newsletters such as:
• SchoolGrants Biweekly Newsletter
<www.k12grants.org/newsletter2.htm>
• eSchool News This Week offers the week’s top education
technology news and the latest grants <www.eschool
news.com/emailprofile/>.
• RFP Bulletin is a weekly summary of recently announced
Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from private, corporate,
and government funding sources
<www.fdncenter.org/newsletters/index.jhtml>.
• Technology Grant & Resource News <www.technology
grantnews.com/network-funding-subscribe.html> is
emailed quarterly and covers the latest grant offerings.
• Technology Funding Alert! is available in a customized
version for CTAP regions, offered by the Alameda
County Office of Education on an annual subscription
basis.
For more information, contact me at jecheandia@
acoe.org. To view the current issue, go to
<www.ctap4.org/grants/funding_alert.htm>.
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15
Other Resources
SchoolGrants <www.schoolgrants.org> features grant
opportunities available to PreK-12 grade schools through
the U.S. Department of Education, each state's Department
of Education, foundations and corporations.
eSchool News Online <www.eschoolnews.com/erc/
funding/ongoing.cfm> serves as a grants-and-funding
clearinghouse that explores ongoing grant awards and
opportunities, offers insights on grant seeking, and provides
a free newsletter.
The Foundation Center <www.fdncenter.org>, founded in 1956, is acclaimed as the nation’s leading authority on
philanthropy. Their website offers many resources such as:
Finding Funders (i.e., profiles and links to more than 4,800
grant makers websites); Learning Lab offers trainings,
Virtual Classroom, Proposal Writing Course, Online
Librarian. Marketplace products include: The Foundation
Directory Online (subscription-based database of foundations and grants) and Foundation Grants to Individuals
Online (subscription-based database of scholarships, fellowships, awards and financial aid information for individuals).
The Grantsmanship Center <www.tgci.com> was
founded in 1972 and offers grantsmanship training and
low-cost publications to nonprofit organizations and
government agencies. The Proposal Checklist & Evaluation
Form (PCEF) covers the essential points to consider in
proposal writing and provides an excellent overview. The
proposal-writing guide, Program Planning and Proposal
Writing (PP&PW), takes you through each stage of the proposal writing process.
These are but a few of the funding sources available.
Somewhere among them may be the program that will meet
your specific need. The key is to clearly identify the type of
grant you are seeking, and then to explore sites and sources
such as these to determine which funding programs offered are
a good match for you by researching the grant guidelines and
following the directions precisely. With a modest investment
of time, you may find that the process of grant seeking is much
less mystifying and confusing than you imagined. ✪
Judy Echeandia <[email protected]> has over 12 years of
experience in the area of grants and development at the
Alameda County Office of Education and is the editor of the
Technology Funding Alert! publication.
Spring 2006 OnCUE
16
FEATURE
by Tim Ereneta
See <www.cue.org> for the complete story.
SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF
TIPS FOR SUBMITTING A GRANT APPLICATION
M
y full time job is to assist
educators in submitting
grants. While the educators
focus on planning a project and writing
a compelling narrative to describe it,
my work involves preparing them to
handle the paperwork that is a part of
every grant application. On a basic
level, this means reading instructions,
then following instructions.
So I’m going to pass along the best
advice I can give for grant seekers:
1.
2.
Read the instructions
Follow the instructions.
Although this may seem like common sense, a surprising number of
grant seekers choose to ignore the second rule, either because they have
skipped rule #1, or because they are in
a rush to meet a deadline.
Funding agencies routinely receive
more requests for funding than they
can award, so one method to make
their job easier is to have applicants
“jump through hoops.” These hoops,
or requirements of the application,
may be as trivial as specifying font
sizes, or requesting extra copies, or
requesting that the applicant submit
curriculum vita with educational
degrees appearing in chronological
order but professional career appointments in reverse chronological order.
If you want money, and a funder
has money to give, and the funder asks
you to jump through hoops — jump
through the hoops. The hoops are
there to standardize applications, and
make sure that readers, whether
agency staff or peers from the field,
review applications fairly.
Spring 2006 OnCUE
There are three reasons to follow the
instructions:
1. You don’t want to disqualify yourself. Some funding agencies, whether
government programs or private charities, automatically disqualify grant
applications that are missing requested
information or submit information in
a nonstandard form.
If you want money, and
a funder has money to give,
and the funder asks you to
jump through hoops — jump
through the hoops.
2. You don’t want to give the funder
the impression that you are either
unwilling or unable to follow instructions. You want the reader at the funding agency to focus on the merits of
your proposal. This is difficult to do if
the application states, “Please summarize your project in 400 words or less”
and your summary is 800 words.
3. You don’t want to annoy the person
reading the proposal. If there is a fourpage limit to describe your project, but
no font size is specified, you could
write a six-page description, and
shrink the margins and font size and
condense the space between each line
to fit it into four pages. Cramming
more information into your proposal,
even if it extols the virtues of your
project, is not going to help you if the
readers have a hard time reading the
tiny print. True, in a pile full of proposals, one with nonstandard margins,
fonts, and type sizes will stand out, but
this does not benefit you. Instead, it
alerts readers to the possibility that you
are trying to skirt the requirements.
If there is something in the instructions that you don't understand, contact
the funding agency and ask for clarification. Call or email the point of contact
for the grant program, usually listed on
the application instructions. The staff
person or program officer expects to get
questions, and has a vested interested in
making sure applications are correctly
submit-ted.For some small family-run
foundations, there may not be anyone to
help you. In that case, get your own
backup. That means calling someone
you know who has experience submitting grants, and asking for help.
Read the instructions, and then
follow the instructions. First, you'll
need to find out if you are even eligible
to apply. If you aren't, stop right there.
Don't expect that your proposal is so
wonderful that the agency will make
an exception in your case. ✪
Tim Ereneta <[email protected]>)
is a full time grants analyst for the
Lawrence Hall of Science <www.lawrence
hallofscience.org>, the public science
center at the University of California,
Berkeley. In his spare time, he volunteers
with the Bay Area Storytelling Festival
<www.bayareastorytelling.org> and also
tells stories.
This article first appeared in the National
Storytelling Network’s Storytelling Magazine
March/April 2006; reprinted with permission.
www.cue.org
FEATURE
17
by Lisa Wahl
GRANT VOCABULARY
COME TO TERMS WITH THE TERMS
G
oals, Objectives, and Outcomes:
These three familiar words
represent important elements
of winning grant proposals. They
should concretely convey what you
intend to accomplish and are essential
when designing your evaluation plan.
They should be consistent with your
overall mission.
While there are different definitions,
especially for the word “objectives,” the
following example covers what most
grant makers want to see in a proposal.
Even if they don’t want this level of
detail, going through the process will
help inform and improve your writing.
The mission conveys your broader
aims. The project goal is much more
targeted and describes what will
change for and for whom. The objectives convey intermediate steps that are
needed in order to accomplish the goal.
Activities detail what you will do to
achieve the objectives. Outcomes
describe results in measurable terms
while the outcome measures are specific about how change will be quantified
to determine progress.
Depending on your proposal, you
may have more than one objective under
your goal, or you may even have multiple goals, each with associated objectives. The list of activities can be used to
generate a timeline that demonstrates
how the project will unfold. The outcomes and related measures can be
expanded into an evaluation plan by
describing who will be responsible for
designing any surveys, for making sure
data is collected, and for analyzing and
reporting the data. The evaluation steps
may need their own timeline as well,
depending on how much the grant
www.cue.org
Mission
Goal
Objective
Activities
Outcomes
Outcome
Measures
Our mission is to provide educational opportunities, which will enable
all students to achieve their highest potential.
An increased number of high school students will enroll in advanced
science courses.
Students will have an opportunity to enroll in science courses that are
dynamic and exciting, including access to laboratory quality equipment and the ability to collect and manipulate data in an efficient, precise way using modern methods.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Meet with science faculty and University trainers to plan changes.
Identify and purchase technology and other needed materials.
Provide staff development on new curriculum and technology.
Publicize new opportunities to students.
Deliver new classes.
Gather and analyze evaluative data for on-going planning and
improvement.
7. Disseminate results via the school newspaper and other channels.
25% more students will enroll in science courses.
85% of students will rate their learning experience as satisfactory or
above.
1. Numbers of students enrolled in science courses by semester, over
the two years of the project, as compared with the average for the
prior 5 years, as reflected by official school records.
2. Student rating of new course offering, based on a survey provided
at the end of each semester to all science students.
maker has emphasized the importance
of evaluation.
Be as specific as possible when
designing your goals, objectives, and
outcomes but make sure that they also
correspond with what the grant maker
wants to fund. Submitting a solid proposal — one where all the elements link
together — will give you an edge on the
competition.
Q&A FOR WORKING WITH A
GRANT WRITER
Q. We don’t have a time to write a
grant. Can we just hire someone to do
it for us?
A. Hiring a grant writer to do a single
proposal may not save you any time.
You have to invest time in finding the
right person, informing them about
your work, and working with them to
develop plans for the proposal.
Q. We don’t think we have the expertise needed to write a winning proposal but we don’t have any money to
hire a grant writer.
A. This is a hurdle designed to discourage groups that think grants will fund
100% of their operation. Most funders
like to see diversified sources of funds
and they would expect that you’d be
“ V O C A B U L A R Y ” C O N T . on 21
Spring 2006 OnCUE
18
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
See <www.cue.org> for resources.
by Barbara Bray
Start with the Blueprint
DEVELOP A PLAN BEFORE YOU WRITE THE PROPOSAL
lmost every education grant requires that you put
aside 25-30% of the award for professional development. There seems to be some confusion as to what
constitutes professional development. In most cases,
writers assume professional development means some form
of face-to-face training. However, if you can measure the
impact on student learning of the activities in your grant,
you can justify a wide range of professional development
opportunities for your teachers including online courses,
coaching and mentoring, developing ePortfolios, attending
conferences, seminars, or retreats. Monies for some
resources may be justified for professional development to
be successful.
Let’s say you have a great idea for an ongoing multimedia project on digital storytelling that you want to do with
your teachers and their students but you do not have the
resources, training, or support to do this project — no
money. So do you just forget it — let it go until the money
is available? No! I know — you’ve heard this before: “If you
build it, they will come.” But, if you don't build it or at least
start with the blueprint, they will never know about it.
Put your ideas in writing with a clear plan of what you
want to do before applying for any grant. This is like a miniproposal that you give to your administrator(s) for their
approval and support. Include these sections:
A
WE
• Overall Concept: Do you have a good sense of how your
program fits into the philosophy and mission of your school?
For example, let’s say that the focus for most professional
development at your school has been on improving reading
and math scores. Data at your school shows that 7th grade
students are falling behind. Their scores need to improve and
writing samples are not up to grade level. Digital storytelling
will engage these students and encourage them to research,
read, write, and develop a presentation about a topic they are
having trouble understanding. Teachers will participate in
professional development that identifies gaps and repetitions
in their curriculum, so they can select topics for students to
study in more depth. Teachers will receive initial training and
ongoing coaching as they develop and implement digital
storytelling projects with their students.
Spring 2006 OnCUE
• Goal or Purpose: Write what you expect the students will
be able to do that is measurable and doable by the end of the
grant: i.e., 7th grade students will work collaboratively to
develop one multimedia project that demonstrates understanding of one math and/or science standard, improves the
quality of their writing by one level based on a rubric, and
increases reading scores by 2%.
• Objectives: Write several objectives that will help achieve
your goal: i.e., 7th grade teachers rarely collaborate with
other 7th grade teachers, and, currently, have little time for
group projects. In fact, most teachers have students doing
individual work and they do not have the skills or classroom
management strategies for group work. They will need training and ongoing support with their projects. Some examples
of objectives might be:
Objective 1: 7th grade teachers will map the curriculum and review data to determine gaps and repetitions
within the curriculum.
Objective 2: 7th grade teachers will work collaboratively to develop a model multimedia project.
• Justification: Write a rationale that justifies doing this type
of project since it will take time out of the existing curriculum.
Your administrator might ask: Why doesn't the existing curriculum provide deep understanding of the standards? Why
would a group project provide deeper understanding?
You can explain that without having time to map what
is currently taught and review current assessment data,
teachers may continue teaching content that isn't necessary
and missing other content that is. The textbook may cover
all areas tested, but you can show that test scores are low
involving the same standards year after year. You may also
have to justify why you want your students to work collaboratively instead of doing individual reports.
• Timetable: How long will your program take? Do
an assessment of how much teachers know about mapping
the curriculum, digital
“ P R O F E S S I O N A L ” C O N T . on 21
www.cue.org
TIPS
See <www.cue.org> for the full article, including more Word photo tricks.
&
TRICKS
19
by Linda Oaks
Photo Fun the Simple Way!
A VA R I E T Y O F T R I C K S I N WO R D S P I C E U P Y O U R P H OTO S
hotos, whether taken by you or by your students, have
an amazing ability to motivate learners. And with the
photo manipulation software available today, the
effects can be truly amazing! Unfortunately, time constraints don’t always allow the classroom teacher the luxury of
using filters, masks, and magic erasers. But you don’t have to
give up on the fun of digital photos. Try these tricks using just
Word and your imagination!
P
First Things First
When you insert a photo into Word, the format is to be
aligned with the text. This means you cannot freely move it
around and several options will be unavailable to you. You can
tell by looking at the handles on the photo. If they are black,
you’ll need to reformat it before you can fully manipulate it.
Select the photo and click on Format Picture on the Picture
Toolbar, then the Layout tab. Select “In Front of Text” and then
click OK. The handles are now white and you can freely
manipulate the photo. You can always format it back to be
“Aligned with Text” when you are finished with your changes.
Size Matters
On the same Format Picture screen, you’ll see an option
for size. This is where you can make your photo exactly the
size you need for your project. Be sure the “Lock Aspect
Ratio” box is selected so you don’t distort your photo. (If
you wish to use just the handles to resize a photo, always use
the corner handles to keep the photo free from distortion.)
Crop! Crop! Crop!
If you want to take photos of all your students to use in
various projects, take their photos in groups of three or four. It
will take much less time to photograph a group of three than
to take thirty individual pictures. When you import the photos
into Word, use the Crop Tool to “eliminate” the extra children
from the photo. When you are finished with child #1, simply
use the “Undo” button* on the Standard Tool bar to get the
photo back as it originally was. Then you can move on to the
next child in the photo. *(You could also use the “Reset” button on the Format Picture toolbar. The results may vary
depending on what you’ve done to the picture.)
www.cue.org
Shaping Up!
If you have a photo you’d like in a particular shape, you
can use Word’s Auto Shapes and “fill” them with your picture. First, select the shape you want from the Drawing toolbar and draw it on your document. (If you want your shape
to be “perfect,” hold down the shift key when drawing.)
Select your shape, click on the Fill Bucket on the Drawing
toolbar and scroll down to Fill Effects. Select the Picture tab.
Click on the Select Picture
button and navigate to your
photo. Click OK all the way
back and you have your
photo shaped for you!
Special Effects
If you want to
create some artistic
impressions with
your photos, click
the Effects button on the picture toolbar. Several effects are
available here. Just be sure to Undo the effect you don’t want
before you try the next or you’ll get a combination of both. ✪
Linda Oaks <[email protected]> is an elementary teacher
in Orange County and a frequent speaker at CUE events
July 5-7
San Diego
www.iste.org/necc/
CUE is the local affiliate host for NECC 2006, presented in collaboration with the International Society for Technology in Education
(ISTE). Through this partnership, CUE members will receive the ISTE
member rate when attending NECC, as well as discounted ISTE
membership. For more information on CUE's involvement, or to
volunteer for NECC 2006, visit: www.cue.org/necc06/.
Spring 2006 OnCUE
20
TECH
COORDINATION
by Doug Prouty, Tim Landeck, and Mac Carey
County Technology Academy Grant
F U N D S A V A I L A B L E F O R C O N T R A C O S TA C O U N T Y E D U C AT O R S
bout nine years ago, the Contra
Costa County Office of Education (CCCOE) approached the
Dean and Margaret Lesher
Foundation to be a conduit for a new
grant program aimed at teachers and
technology. CCCOE applied to the
foundation for a three-year grant that
would fund six cycles of school-based
grants. CCCOE has made two successive funding applications and is now in
the middle of its third three-year grant
that provides funding opportunities for
local schools.
The County Technology Academy
Grant (CTAG) was created in 1997.
The grant was designed to continue to
support curriculum development
efforts that increase the infusion of
technology, resulting in improved student performance. Only Contra Costa
County teachers can apply for the grant
funds and they must apply in teams of
two. Having a partner helps with support and accountability. We encourage
pairing a curriculum expert with a
partner skilled in technology.
The grant is specifically designed to
be a simple and quick application for
busy teachers. Grant requirements consist of filling in a form and using a maximum of one page to define the project.
The two major components of the application are to identify an academic
problem (supported by data such as
test scores, observations, surveys, etc.)
and propose a solution that represents
a “best practice” use of technology that
can produce measurable outcomes.
The emphasis needs to be on student
learning first and then a discussion of
A
Spring 2006 OnCUE
how that need can be addressed with the
support of technology.
Winning teams attend a two-day
staff development session provided by
the County. The county team reads the
winning applications to decide what
type of training would be most beneficial for the teachers. They then develop
and deliver the workshop before the
end of the school year so teachers are
ready to start making purchases in the
summer.
The emphasis needs to be on
student learning first.
The CTAG grant provides $8,000
to each team of teachers. Awarded
schools are also asked to match part of
the grant with local funds. The county
office works with the school district
business office to defer the district’s
usual indirect fees so that as much
money to goes to the classroom as possible. The teacher pair is responsible
for purchasing equipment (meeting
district standards) and maintaining
their budget.
Over the past several years the
grant has changed to meet the needs of
our schools. The amount of required
matching dollars has decreased, due to
the decrease in available discretionary
money to schools. Most recently, the
CTAG grant has introduced a Principal
grant that is designed to assist the site
leader with implementation of profes-
sional development and technology.
As a result of the CTAG grant program, the county office has been able to
distribute over two million dollars in
grant money to 120 classrooms in 16
school districts within the county.
In support of the grant and the
teachers who win, the county has set
up a dedicated credentialed position.
The CTAG Grant Specialist is responsible for creating each new application
packet, running workshops to publicize the grants, grooming applications,
scheduling readings, and supporting
awardees. This position also considers
modifications and adjustments to the
grant. You can read more and contact
those involved by going to <www.
cccoe.k12.ca.us/ctag/>. ✪
Mac Carey <[email protected]> is
Director of Technology Systems at the
Contra Costa County Office of Education.
He is a former classroom teacher and large
district technology coordinator and a current member of California's High Speed
Network NIC committee and CTAP Region
IV's Regional Council.
Tim Landeck <[email protected]>
is director of technology services of the
Pajaro Valley Unified School District in
Watsonville, Calif., a national conference
presenter, and a consultant with various
school districts nationwide.
Doug Prouty <[email protected].
us> is an education technology coordinator in the Contra Costa County Office of
Education and CUE Board member.
www.cue.org
21
“ P R O F E S S I O N A L ” C O N T . from 18
storytelling, the technology used to do digital storytelling,
classroom management, and collaborative projects. For this
blueprint, you can use a quick survey. When you have some
idea on what your teachers know and don’t know, write the
dates you hope to start and end the project and how often
teachers will need release time or participate in workshops.
You can elaborate on this and put in all of the activities in
the full proposal.
• Expenses: Write how much money you will need to do this
project. You may not know all the expenses at this point but
try your best to put in the costs for people and resources. From
the assessment and timetable, you can figure out who will
need what. Do you have the people who can provide the training and coaching support? If they are full-time teachers, you
will need to build in enough release time. If you find you don’t
have the people to provide the training and/or coaching, then
do some research about trainers or coaches available and their
costs. What resources do your teachers have and what will
each teacher need to complete the projects? The administrator
may ask for this information first and then the timetable.
Make sure that you put enough time aside to write the
grant and have all stakeholders include their input. Follow all
guidelines to a T. The readers follow the guidelines so make
sure you use the checklist for each section. A minimum of
twenty-five percent of the funds in your proposal should be
earmarked for professional development. Without enough
time for teachers to practice, learn from each other, reflect, and
be coached by someone who understands their situation, the
program will not be effective or succeed. ✪
Barbara Bray <[email protected]>, writes a regular
column for OnCUE, moderates a listserv <[email protected]>, coordinates the Professional
Development Quick Tips (PDQs) for Techlearning.com, and is
president of My eCoach <www.my-ecoach.com>, a professional
learning community.
“ V O C A B U L A R Y ” C O N T . from 17
able to invest whatever resources are needed to create a
winning proposal. If not, they may doubt your ability to
successfully deliver on the grant proposal.
Q. Can’t we just ask a grant writer to write their salary
into the grant so that they will get paid if we get the grant?
A. Contingent or percentage-based compensation is not
ethical, according to the professional standards developed
by the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the
other major associations. Grant writers are usually paid for
their time and efforts by the hour or project. If you want to
know why, a good discussion of the issues is at <www.raisefunds.com/898forum.html>.
Q. What CAN we do to get help writing our proposal?
A. Having a professional grant writer review and critique
your proposal will be much less expensive than having
them write it for you. Offer to pay them for an hour of their
time to give suggestions for improvement.
Q. How do we find a grant writer?
A. Word of mouth is probably the best recommendation.
Ask groups similar to yours if they used anyone, and if they
were happy with the services. ✪
Lisa Wahl <[email protected]> is a grant-writing
consultant with 25 years experience.
Spring 2006 OnCUE
www.cue.org
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Scientifically Based Research Applied to CAHSEE Preparation
The CAHSEE Tutor Software was designed to help students prepare for the California High School
Exit Examination at their own individual pace. This Windows and Macintosh standards assessment
and interactive test preparation software will help students master 100% of the California Content
Standards that are tested on the Mathematics and English-Language Arts CAHSEE.
100% Correlation to the California Content Standards
TestTools, Inc.
(800) 851-5080
www.testtools.com
Specifically Created by Teachers to help California Students Prepare for the CAHSEE
www.cue.org
Spring 2006 OnCUE
Calendar
2006
March 22-25
ADEC Summit XVII, Alliance for
Distance Education in California, Pasadena, CA.
www.adec-cal.org/summit17/ summit17.html
April 8
Innovations in Education (CVCUE)
California State University Fresno, Fresno, Calif.
www.cvcue.org
April 29
CVCUE Spring Conference
Rio Vista High School. www.cvcue.org
April 30- May 1
California League of Middle and
High Schools School Safety Symposium, North Lake
Tahoe. www.clms.net
July 5-7 NECC Explore, Dream Discover,
Collaboration with ISTE as the regional affiliateplanning partner. San Diego, CA. www.iste.org/necc/
July 30 - August 4 Teach the Teachers
Collaborative, Thacher School, Ojai
www.tttc.org
March 6-8 Annual California CUE Conference,
October 28
For more information: www.cue.org/events/
2006 CUELA Technology Fair, Los
Angeles County Office of Education, Downey, Calif.
www.cuelosangeles.org
November 2-4 California Reading Association
November 16-19 California School Library
June 3
Association (CSLA) Annual Conference, Sacramento,
CA. www.schoolibrary.org
www.cccue.com
2008
Palm Springs, CA
(CRA), Sacramento, CA. www.californiareads.org
Summer Technology Festival, co-hosted by CCCUE, Stanislaus COE, Modesto, Calif.
Sharing the Summit, Palm Springs, CA.
The 2nd Annual EdTech conference
(IACUE), Cajon High School, San Bernadino, CA.
Details TBA
June 20-23
March 1-3 Annual California CUE Conference,
Fall 2006
May San Gabriel Valley CUE Tech Fair, Pomona, CA.
40th Annual California Student Media
Festival. Two locations: Foothill College, Los Altos
Hills Southern location - TBD
www.mediafestival.org
2007
November 17-19 CLMS/CLHS/CUE Technology
Conference, Monterey,CA www.clms.net and
www.clhs.net
We’ve Moved!
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address:
Computer Using Educators (CUE)
c/o WestEd
300 Lakeside Drive, 25th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
510.814.6630
FAX 510.444.4569
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Computer-Using Educators, Inc. | c/o WestEd, 300 Lakeside Drive, 25th Floor | Oakland, CA 94612
phone 510/814.6630 | fax 510/444.4569 | email [email protected] | website www.cue.org